According to a British intelligence report leaked to the press in 2007, al-Qaida operatives are planning a large-scale attack "on par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
How likely is it that terrorists will develop the capability of such an attack?
Jenkins is one of the world's most renowned terrorism experts. He will discuss the realities of a nuclear threat - the motivations, the means and what we should be doing in response- The Commonwealth Club of California
Bio
Gloria Duffy
Gloria Duffy is President and CEO of The Commonwealth Club of California.
Gloria Duffy previously served as US Special Coordinator for Cooperative Threat Reduction and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration. Her mission was to convince the countries of the former Soviet Union to give up their weapons of mass destruction, and to prevent the spread of their nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and material.
In years prior, she was the first Executive Director of Ploughshares Fund, a public charitable grant making foundation in San Francisco; Assistant Director of the Arms Control Association, a public interest group in Washington, DC; editor of Arms Control Today, and a resident consultant at the RAND Corporation.
A San Francisco native, Dr. Duffy holds M.A., M. Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Columbia University in New York, and an A.B. magna cum laude from Occidental College in Los Angeles. Gloria has also worked with the MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, and been a member of Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation since 1980.
Brian Michael Jenkins
Brian Jenkins is senior advisor to the president of the RAND Corporation. He founded the RAND Corporation's terrorism research program in 1972. Mr. Jenkins' books include "International Terrorism: A New Mode of Conflict" and "The Fall of South Vietnam."
its nice to hear it put realistically, and its fascinating to hear the comparison between the real and perceived threats, and refreshing to hear the word terrorist defined and used correctly
I think this guy is right-on about the nature of nuclear terrorism as well as our national anxiety. I also think his advice regarding America's need to confront security threats as informed adults is well put. Unfortunately, it appears to have gone unheeded.